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About Phillip Ramphisa

Phillip Ramphisa

My name is Phillip Ramphisa. I grew up in the rural village of South Africa. After growing up in a family of 9 children without a present father and a mother I learnt a lot about being emotionally fit and fighting to make dreams come true. I teach about success and peak performance in personal life and business.
In this blog I write about success strategies, being emotionally fit and overcoming obstacles as well as leadership in business. I hope you enjoy what you read and find what I share useful for your own life!!!

I firmly believe that in life awareness is key. What I mean by that is that in order for people to manage something first they have to be aware of it. Anything that you are not aware of will always feel totally out of control. The same thing applies with career success. Those that actively manage their careers are more aware of where their careers are going and therefore more likely to succeed. Those who do not actively manage their careers are likely to progress slower, by chance, by luck and so on. So decide now that you will actively manage your career.The point of this article is for me to share with you 6 sure fire ways for you to get a promotion fast. So I better get to it before the article becomes too long

1. Choose work assignments wisely

The kind of work you do has potential to either brand you well and give you status or it might not. To get promoted fast you need to keep in mind in your work that you should always look out for work that can advertise you well. So if there is an opportunity to chair a meeting instead of taking minutes in a meeting, go for it. If there is an opportunity to lead a project instead of reporting to someone, go for it. The more responsibility, the more visible the better for you to get noticed so have the courage to raise your hand and choose those assignments.

2. Deliver

Work is about producing results. Delivery is the first thing that you will be judged on in terms of work. If you aim to be promoted this is the number one area that you need to manage. Meet deadlines and deliver a higher quality of work. To really impress deliver beyond expectation. How do you deliver beyond expectation? You do this by always thinking ahead in terms of whatever work that you do. For instance if you were required to deliver a report on the electricity usage in your company, you would go beyond expectation by analysing the data according to the number of employees in the company, projecting future usage figures……critically analysing trends in terms of how usage in winter compares to usage in summer etc….you get the idea….go beyond what is expected.

3. Manage perceptions

Whether you like it or not people at work see you in a certain way. They either think you are a hard worker or not, highly organised or not, a team player, a smart person, a difficult person to work with etc…….people that you work with have perceptions about you. The longer you have been working for an organisation the more ingrained are the perceptions. The more ingrained the perceptions are, the harder you will have to work to change them.Unfortunately whether the perceptions are real or not they will affect your progress. If you are not seen as capable or dedicated you might not get promoted. You therefore need to be aware of perceptions and manage them well in order to progress in your career. Aim to be seen as smart, capable, in control and as a team player, amongst other things. Also look the part, if you do not look like Vice President those in power will not be convinced to promote you to that role either!!

4. Get visible

I am sure you have heard this a thousand times. Brand yourself, promote your work. Well it is true. Work is no different to business. If nobody knows your business, even if you cook the most delicious cookies. Nobody will buy. Your business will close down. You have to find ways to be visible so people know what you do…..so that they know that you are not just another face. This could mean sending emails, making loud suggestions and so on. Some people naturally enjoy being low profile, that might be you, you have to try to be visible though. It will help you get promoted because visibility is seen as value. Even if you are naturally low profile you can still get visible. Low profile or introverted people command a certain kind of respect so much that when they speak everybody listens. So you can use that to your advantage.

5. Have “political power”

Finally, the truth that no one wants to talk about. Political power. Well most people do not like talking about political power because it is something that does not seem easy to manage and is sensitive. When everything else is equal between employees the difference in times of promotion might be influenced by political power. What is political power? I do not have a clear all in all definition of this for you. Think of it this way, in singing competitions such as the X-factor and Idols where viewers vote for the winner. The musician who wins is the one that is liked the most for whatever reason. Same thing sometimes goes with the corporate environment…..given that two people have similar experience and ability. The one liked the most and the one with more political power might get the promotion.

The next question is then how do you gain political power to get promoted? The truth is you do not have to skim or bad mouth anybody or anything negative like that.To gain political power you just have to have empathy for each and every person that you work with in your organisation. You should do this for employees in all levels whether they are below or above you in terms of rank. So do not treat anyone bad no matter how difficult your day is…..do not lose control of your feelings. When people are not well or have been on sick leave ask them how they are feeling. Care for everyone and be genuine about it.

Support all your team members in their goals, lead from the place of caring. Master influence by caring.

When you do that you gain political power…….people respect you for it. Influence to the top and the bottom. This will help you provide a sign of a true leader and you will get you promoted faster than an ordinary person would.

6. Have the courage to embrace change

Sometimes we may do all the right things and get stuck in our jobs for whatever reason. This is especially so in our first jobs when we might have joined as juniors and now find it hard to get people to take us seriously so that we can get promoted. Sometimes we might be having difficult relationships with our bosses that limit our chances of progressing. At a time like this where you see that nothing you can do can change the situation….it might be better to have the courage to embrace change and join another organization in order to progress on your career.